2015 fall mosaic cover final

Food for Life:

Feeding body, mind and soul

Also in this issueA publication of Canadian Baptist Ministries

4 A Hunger in Our Hearts

10 Mindful Meals

18 Welcome to Paradise

Fall 2015

mosaic is published three times a year by Canadian Baptist Ministries. Copies are distributed free of charge. Bulk quantities available by request.

c o n ta c t7185 Millcreek DriveMississauga, ON l5n 5r4Tel: [email protected]

Managing Editor Jennifer Lau

Editor Laurena Zondo

Art Direction Gordon Brew

Connect with us.

www.cbmin.org

@canadianbaptist

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As partners in the Canadian Baptist family we exist to serve the local church in its grassroots mission. Together we impact our communities and beyond through the love of Christ.

I love these words I read at Mahatma Gandhi's homestead in South Africa because it reminds me of CBM’s deep commitment to ensuring our global partners are able to provide food aid where it is most needed and food security to those who lack it. Our membership in the Canadian Foodgrains Bank is vital to this strategy.

Some estimates indicate that among the global poor, up to 80% of an average person's life is spent seeking their next mouthful of food. In many parts of the world, including among our own poor, food is a necessary preoccupation. More than one billion people – nearly a sixth of the world’s population – suffer from chronic hunger. It is a crisis with devastating and far-reaching effects.

This issue of mosaic focuses on food. We hope you will be appropriately nourished on the articles, stories and images you find herein. And so as you open these pages, all that remains, as my French friends would say, is to wish you, "bon appetit".

God comes to the poor in the shape of bread.

Terry SmithDirector, International Partnerships

P.S. As I write this, I am mindful and grateful for the investment of wisdom, vision and leadership Rev. Sam Chaise has provided CBM over the past five years. Sam recently stepped down from his position as Executive Director and he and his wife Cindie are seeking God's direction for their future. Sam greatly shaped who we are today as the mission movement of choice for Canadian Baptists. On behalf of the Board and staff of CBM, thank you Sam for your leadership!

Fall 2015

mosaic is a community forum of local and global voices united by a shared mission. mosaic will serve as a catalyst to stimulate and encourage passionate discipleship among Canadian Baptists and their partners.

learn ............................... 4 A Hunger in Our Hearts

8 Restoring Hope

10 Mindful Meals

just think .....................12 14 Food for Life

18 Welcome to Paradise

20 She Matters Update

the view ....................... 22 Rod Olsen

23 Hopeful Gifts for Change

touch ............................ 24 Grassroots Heroes

ON THE FRONT COVER of this issue of mosaic is the ingredients for Allodi Torkari (vegetable curry), a favorite dish of Sunamoni, who lives with her husband and three young children in a remote village in Odisha State, India. Sunamoni participated in a nutrition project offered by CBM and the Kui Baptist Association.

She also received health awareness training and is now a volunteer health worker in the village, encouraging other women to plant gardens for fresh fruits and vegetables and use mosquito nets to protect families against malaria.

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A HungerA Hungerin Our Hearts

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4 mosaic—fall 2015 learn

OUR SUPERMARKETS ARE EVIDENCE that we rank among the privileged people of the world. An average grocery store in Canada sells over 43,000 items and presents us with a stunning array of choice.

Yet there are distressing signs of poverty and undernutrition in our nation. Over 850,000 Canadians depend on food banks each month – more than one-third of them are children and youth. Recent studies have linked poverty and poor health in Canada with undernutrition. Low income and inadequate nutrition reduce life expectancy of people in some Canadian postal codes by up to 15 years. These factors also result in shorter life spans and an increased incidence of diabetes, dementia, strokes and heart attacks.

In the rest of the world, the challenges of global hunger continue. The United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) conclude in 2015.

UN OFFICIALS CALL THE MDGS THE MOST SUCCESSFUL ANTI- POVERT Y MOVEMENT IN HISTORY, POINTING TO A REDUCTION IN HUNGER FROM 23% TO 13% OVER THE 25 YEAR PERIOD.

� the measuring standard is twelve consecutive months of under-nourishment

� the majority of the 795 million malnourished people in the world live in rural areas of the Global South where food crops are produced

� over 23% of the population of Sub-Saharan Africa is undernourished or hungry with 24 countries currently facing a food crisis

� food insecurity in the Middle East augments political instability

� climate change continues to adversely impact our ability to grow crops

This period may be the calm before the storm. The challenge to address local and global hunger will increase as the world’s population grows to 9 billion by 2050. However, responding to physical and spiritual hunger is embedded in our DNA as Canadian Baptists.

by Gordon King, CBM Resource Specialist

HOWEVER THE CELEBR ATION OF THIS ACHIEVEMENT NEEDS TO BE MUTED BY SOME KEY CONSIDER ATIONS:

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THE CONNECTION BETWEEN FAITH , witness and compassion for the hungry is embedded deeply in the scriptures. Isaiah speaks of shared meals with the poor (Isa 58: 6-7). Jesus fed the hungry and taught that a common table with the poor was more important than maintaining the social obligations of reciprocity (Lk 14: 12-14). St. Paul organized a famine relief collection among the congregations of the early Christian movement (2 Cor: 8-9). Over the decades, compassion for the hungry has become part of our own identity as Canadian Baptists. Here are just a few highlights of local and global initiatives:

❖ Agronomists and nutritionists were included in the missionaries sent out by CBM and we remain committed to feeding the hungry through agriculture projects in areas of hunger. Bob and Anne Swann, CBM missionaries to Kenya, built and managed feeding stations in three massive UN refugee camps at the height of the Somali civil war in the 1990s. Similar circumstances in 2011 resulted in new food assistance programs under the direction of CBM Africa Team Leaders Aaron and Erica Kenny.

❖ In the early 1980s farming families of Brownfield Baptist Church in Alberta participated in a prairie movement to contribute wheat to alleviate the Ethiopian famine. This grassroots Christian commitment resulted in the formation of the Canadian Foodgrains Bank. Today, grow projects across the country like the one in Brownfield continue to save lives from hunger. A new generation of young farmers from Moosomin Baptist Church in Saskatchewan began the Harvest of Hope project in 2012. Urban churches like Lorne Park Baptist Church in Mississauga, Ontario, Westview Baptist Church and First Baptist Church in Calgary, and Willowlake Baptist in Winnipeg have created partnerships with rural CBM/Foodgrains Bank grow projects.

❖ The Mustard Seed movement was born in Emmanuel Baptist Church in Victoria, B.C. 35 years ago. It has grown to become the largest food bank on Vancouver Island with other programs that respond to urban poverty. New Mustard Seed organizations were initiated in Edmonton and Calgary with the support of Baptist churches. The Gleaners, launched with Canadian Baptist leadership and support in the South Okanagan of B.C., has become a national movement dedicated to using surplus production to feed the hungry. The Oasis Dufferin Community Centre has been caring for the personal, spiritual and food needs of new immigrants in the area around Dufferin Street Baptist Church in Toronto, Ontario for 20 years. RiverCross Church in Saint John, NB has become an incarnational centre of social compassion and transformation. The RiverCross Mission Centre is the home of the North End Food Bank in Saint John.

❖ In Atlantic Canada, participants in Springforth, the annual gathering of Baptist youth, raised over $12,000 to support a food security project in Kenya. Midland Baptist Church in New Brunswick has run a Friday morning drive-through coffee program out of the church to benefit food projects for the past nine years. In Nova Scotia, agronomists associated with Baptist churches volunteer time to work with CBM food security teams in East Africa, bringing specialized skills in areas like soil analysis, conservation farming, horticulture and post-harvest storage.

Connecting Mission & Hunger

Scott, from last year's Springforth short-term mission trip, learning about conservation farming alongside local Kenyan farmer Margaret on her demonstration farm in Maai Mahiu, Kenya.

6 mosaic—fall 2015

MARK DOERKSEN, THE CANADIAN BAPTISTS OF WESTERN CANADA’S HEARTLAND REGIONAL MINISTER,recently encouraged Canadian Baptist church leaders to raise their voices on behalf of those who are hungry. As Mark stated, �There are times when we need to speak on behalf of those who live with hunger.� The Canadian Foodgrains Bank’s Good Soil campaign gives Canadian Baptists an opportunity to speak collectively about our concern for those who live on the margins and struggle for food.

This campaign encourages each congregation to make a public statement in support of farmers with small landholdings in the Global South. 84% of family farms in the world have less than two hectares of land. Supporting these farmers is an important and effective way to reduce world hunger and promote the Canadian government’s objective of improving maternal and child health.

CBM, in partnership with the Canadian Baptists of Western Canada, is joining with the 14 other members of the Foodgrains Bank to ask the Government of Canada to restore development assistance for agriculture to 2010 levels, when as a nation we made global food security a national priority.

The Good Soil campaign can be incorporated into a morning worship service, be part of a church lunch, or be the central theme in a special workshop. CBM provides letters which are addressed to your local Member of Parliament requesting assistance in restoring Canada’s agricultural aid programs.

When a meal is shared, participants engage in the symbolic act of bending spoons to show that there is something wrong with a global distribution system that leaves so many food producers and rural communities deprived of adequate nutrition. The bent spoons will be collected and used to create art that represents the horror of hunger and our collective response.

Join the Good Soil campaign. Go to unbendthetrend.ca for more details.

“THERE ARE TIMES WHEN WE NEED TO SPEAK ON BEHALF OF THOSE WHO LIVE WITH HUNGER.”

GOOD SOIL CAMPAIGN

7mosaic—fall 2015

mosaic—fall 2015

AN ESTIMATED 80% OF AFRICA’Spopulation are subsistence farmers whose livelihoods depend on producing food on a small plot of land. Yet out of the 1 in 9 hungry people in the world, many are farmers. That is because they face a number of challenges, particularly with climate change. Areas that previously received adequate rainfall now receive insufficient levels. In Kenya, droughts are frequent and crops fail one out of every three seasons.

Other concerns include limited access to training and resources for poor farmers who are not able to keep pace with technological advances, and the deterioration of soil health. A rising population density has led to rapid depletion of soil nutrients, declining yields and environmental degradation. Traditional agricultural methods of clearing the land by cutting down all the trees is depleting the land.

All of these challenges have led to a chronic dependency on food aid for many subsistence farmers. CBM and our partners are committed to improving the health of people and restoring the land through conservation agriculture projects that use alternative farming methods. The impact of these initiatives is already producing real results.

One project among 1,200 farming families in a drought-prone region of Kenya has seen a great reduction in hunger. Before the project, maize and beans were the only crops. Prolonged droughts caused consecutive crop failures and extreme periods of hunger. Farmers were compelled to spend money to buy food – at high rates – at the expense of school fees and medicine. After the project, nearly 75% of interviewed participants were growing more than three different drought tolerant crops, and the number of hunger months has reduced from seven months (in 2010) to three and half months (in 2015).

Restoring Hope

by Ruth Munyao, CBM Africa Food Security Specialist

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Now my children can eat carrots, cabbage and eggs

but I can also pay their school fees.T his program is a real blessing

for us.

Masika Mulwahali from DR Congo tells us that, �On a small plot where we used to get hardly two bags, I harvested five bags of cassava and after selling part of it, I bought six iron sheets for the roof of our house. We have learned also to grow vegetables. We never thought cabbage could grow in this place but with my first experience, I harvested 50 kg, which I sold to buy some chickens. Our diet is improved: now my children can eat carrots, cabbage and eggs but I can also pay their school fees. This program is a real blessing for us.�

Another farmer, Kabuyaya Akila, is encouraged by the tomatoes he now grows. �Using the seeds I received from the project and with the two harvests of tomatoes, I managed to secure my own plot of land. Now I also plant cassava, using the proper spacing and mulching�As a result of new techniques, production increased and I managed to buy a motorbike, which helps me to take my products to the market. From the sale of tomatoes and cassava, I get all the other basic things I need such as cooking oil, medicine and school fees for my children. Even when there is not enough rain, I use the watering can to water the plants and the spray to apply pesticides on my tomatoes�I feel that my duty is to sensitize all my neighbors to apply the same technologies so that we may increase production in the village and have access to better markets.�

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by Leah Kostamo, Co-Founder & Communications Director, A Rocha Canada

The following article is an excerpt from the book Planted: A Story of Creation, Calling, and Community, which is about the founding of A Rocha Canada, an international Christian organization which, inspired by God’s love, engages in scientific research, environmental education, community-based conservation projects and sustainable agriculture.

IN OUR MIND’S EYE, the A Rocha enterprise was meant to be about conservation and education, anchored in community. But landing at our first environmental center and looking out the farmhouse’s bay window onto the rich brown soil of the half-acre garden plot, we suddenly began dreaming of growing enough food to feed guests and interns. How romantic and sustainable�the zero-mile diet! We fantasized of roasted beets sprinkled with goat cheese and fresh tomato and basil salads. The more we fantasized the more we realized that, like everything else, it’s all connected. The means is always the end, and if we wanted to take environmental stewardship seriously, then we’d have to be consistent in what we ate at the Center.

THE ORGANIC DEBATEBecause we are now in the food game, people are constantly trying to get us to weigh in on the organic versus conventional food debate. �Is organic really better?� they want to know. Our first response is, �Better, how?� Nutritionally? Economically? Environmentally? It’s interesting, but nearly to a person, if it’s a member of the older (50 years and above) set asking, they want to know if it’s better nutritionally. The answer is complicated and hard to answer with clear scientific backing. It is true that conventionally grown produce is doused with pesticides and herbicides that have been shown, when consumed in high levels, to act as neurotoxins, endocrine disruptors, and carcinogens, but the amount of these toxins one actually ingests in a given pear or potato might still be harmless. Might. That one’s still up in the air.

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HOMEGROWNAnd so we arrive at the �Eat Local� craze. These folk religiously track food miles so as to avoid being tainted by a peach or pear that might have been grown outside their own 100 mile radius. Actually, I don’t know why I’m making fun of them�in my best moments I want to join them!

At the A Rocha Center, we do have our scruples and no-go areas�things like feedlot beef, soda pop and processed snack food. And though we are situated in British Columbia, we do eat wheat from Saskatchewan and the occasional fruit from California in the winter. But where possible, we eat locally produced produce, which is especially easy in the summer and fall when our gardens are burgeoning. It’s our meagre stand of solidarity with our brothers and sisters in the two-thirds world for whom a locally grown, mostly vegetarian diet is the norm.

Read Leah Kostamo’s book Planted to learn more about A Rocha Canada. arocha.ca

Toxicity aside, what about nutritional value? Again, as Michael Pollan points out, it’s tough to say with empirical certainty since so many variables affect a vegetable’s nutritional quality (things like geography, freshness, genetics, soils, etc.). What is becoming more qualifiable is the higher levels of micronutrients and polyphenols present in organically grown plants. Polyphenols are chemical metabolites that help plants metabolize nutrients and are found especially in the skins of fruits. A study by researchers at the University of California-Davis which looked at vitamin and polyphenol levels in organic and conventionally grown foods has shed new light on the benefit of organically grown produce. The organic fruits and veggies consistently had higher levels of vitamin C and a wide range of polyphenols, which have antioxidant and antimicrobial properties. Why were levels higher? The researchers theorize that without the benefit of pesticides and herbicides the plants must defend themselves naturally (via polyphenols) against pests or succumb, making for stronger, healthier plants. That’s one theory.

The other is that by drastically simplifying the soil with chemical fertilizers and no compost or rotational crops, plants no longer have the ingredients to produce these compounds. Other studies have shown similar patterns. So, yes, organically grown food is most likely more nutritional. But, frankly, I must add that this is not the primary reason we grow organic veggies at A Rocha. We are quite conscious of the fact that eating only �organic� can be quite self-serving, especially if the organic fruit or vegetable in question has traveled hundreds of miles to one’s plate. After all, doesn’t shelling out two dollars for an organic apple from New Zealand seem a bit outrageous when the rest of the world starves for a bit of vitamin C?

Finally, there’s the environmental angle. No petro-chemicals (in the forms of fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides) equals more environmental, right? Yes�and no. Growing plants and animals using organic methods does mean less soil erosion, less nitrogen run-off and no toxic pesticides, herbicides, and growth hormones in the watershed�all huge factors in sustaining healthy ecosystems. So, yes, organic is tremendously better for the health of the planet.

But we now have the oxymoronical beast known as �industrial organic� which operates in the agri-business mode, only without all the petro-chemicals. It’s a good news/bad news scenario. On the one hand these companies and their farms aren’t sterilizing soil or polluting streams, a benefit that cannot be overemphasized. But they still use around eight calories of fossil fuel energy to deliver one calorie of food energy to my table. While the soil might be happier, the air gets just as polluted, tons of carbon is released into the atmosphere, and the whole model rests on an ever-dwindling supply of cheap oil.

People are constantly trying to get us to weigh in on the organic versus conventional food debate.

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just think

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Every year, consumers in rich countries waste almost as much food (222 m tonnes) as the entire net food production of sub-Saharan Africa(230 m tonnes)*

* SOURCE:

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United NationsSAVE FOOD: Global Initiative on Food Loss and Waste Reduction


The gift of food in a hungry world provides so much more than just sustenance for our bodies. All around the world, CBM’s food projects are giving life to people in many other ways – feeding body, mind and soul. Now that’s what we call a satisfying meal.

The gift of food in a hungry world

food lifefor

Food = NutritionFood = NutritionWe know that not all food holds equal value. In some parts We know that not all food holds equal value. In some parts

of the world, there may be access to food staples, but no of the world, there may be access to food staples, but no

education about nutrition. India has one of the world’s

highest rates of child malnutrition. Thanks to a program

supported by CBM, families in remote and neglected villages

receive a nutritional supplement to add to their infant’s receive a nutritional supplement to add to their infant’s

food, as well as seeds and training to plant gardens for fresh food, as well as seeds and training to plant gardens for fresh

fruit and vegetables. It’s a good start for a healthier life.

INDIA

of the world, there may be access to food staples, but no

Photo credit: Johnny Lam Photography


Photo credit: Johnny Lam Photography

BOLIVIA

Food = EducationFood is vital to the nourishment of growing minds and bodies. A hungry child cannot focus in school and and bodies. A hungry child cannot focus in school and does not have enough energy to get through a day of does not have enough energy to get through a day of learning. Providing hot nutritious meals to children learning. Providing hot nutritious meals to children is one of the most important aspects of the Prison Kids program in Bolivia. Children are also supported through tutoring, counselling and transportation through tutoring, counselling and transportation to ensure academic success. But it all starts with a to ensure academic success. But it all starts with a healthy meal. It’s nourishment for the body and mind.healthy meal. It’s nourishment for the body and mind.


Food = EnterpriseThe gift of an animal for a struggling farmer can make a dramatic impact on family income. That’s why animals are an essential part of the Guardians of Hope program in Kenya, which assists families most impacted by HIV and AIDS. Aside from providing meat, animals produce other sources of protein like eggs and milk, which means better overall nutrition for the family and a boost in income. The added revenue pays for other essentials like school fees, health care and clothing. It’s a small business that benefits the whole family.

KENYA

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Food = HopeFood = HopeFor Syrian refugees f leeing from conflict, hope looks

like an emergency food box filled with enough supplies

to sustain a family for a month. True Vine Baptist

to sustain a family for a month. True Vine Baptist

Church in Zahle, Lebanon is demonstrating the gospel

Church in Zahle, Lebanon is demonstrating the gospel

to refugees who have left everything behind and

to refugees who have left everything behind and

arrived into their new community with very little. For

many families, this food box provided by CBM and the

many families, this food box provided by CBM and the

Canadian Foodgrains Bank represents an unexpected

Canadian Foodgrains Bank represents an unexpected

expression of God’s love in a time of crisis. It’s an act of

compassion that restores hope in the desperation of the

present and enables dreams for a better tomorrow.

present and enables dreams for a better tomorrow.

LEBANON


to Paradise!to Paradise!

THE SYRIA/IRAQ CRISIS IS HUGE. Canadian Baptist churches plan to resettle 100 refugee families (not so huge, but very significant for us and the families).

In February I’d just emailed CBM, saying Atlantic Baptists would take responsibility for 50 of those families, when my phone rang. It was a leader from Paradise Baptist Church outside Bridgetown, Nova Scotia. (If the province is the only one of those locations you recognize, just picture rural.)

�We’ve never done anything like this before,� he said, �We’re a church of 30 people struggling to maintain a building, but we’re quite sure God wants us to sponsor Syrian refugees.�

That’s when I sort of wondered if we were on to something.

Three weeks later, 24 people from nine churches crowded into a living room in Paradise to hear my presentation. One of those churches joined Paradise’s effort and several others have embarked on their own sponsorship journeys.

That’s when I strongly suspected we were on to something.

Last month the refugee team met and selected a family – an Iraqi mother with five daughters. They only speak Arabic, and are Muslim.

A house has already been rented for them in Bridgetown. The landlady was thrilled. She was one of five daughters. �Five girls again! I can’t believe it!�

Enquiries about English language instruction led the team to the local school and to the resource teacher who had TESOL training. �You won’t believe this,� he said, �But for two months I’ve been wondering how I could ever help Iraqi children caught in this conflict. Look at my computer.� His desktop was a picture of Iraqi children. He’s insisting on helping the mother with language too.

Last week, a team member was raking grass at the rented house. During a conversation with a neighbour, she shared that the church was sponsoring an Iraqi family. �Do they speak

A story of a small church taking on the big challenge of sponsoring a refugee family

by Paul Carline, CBM Strategic Associate serving as Director of Intercultural Ministries with the Convention of Atlantic Baptist Churches

mosaic—fall 20151818 mosaic—fall 2015

Arabic?� he asked. �Because I do. I’ve lived in Iran and call Kuwait home.� A translator lives next door!

That’s when I knew we were on to something – a God thing.Ephesians 1:4-5 says that God also met once and arbitrarily

picked people to rescue, redeem and be in relationship with. �He chose us in him before the creation of the world... In love, he predestined us to be adopted as his children.�

There’s something exhilarating about choosing and committing yourself to someone (or six) for better or for worse. Relationships fuel life. �We’re so pumped!!� the team told me right after selecting their family.

But will the excitement last? I’ve learned a thing or two about sponsorship and adoption. What’s thrilling for the in-control group and parents is traumatic for the refugees and orphans. All the major changes they’ve recently experienced have been bad and this newest transplant promises to be just as uncomfortable and incompatible.

Imagine that urban Iraqi family in the little town of Paradise – shock. I remember my adopted youngest son’s face when he first came home to us – terror.

The only hope of success in either endeavour (and even then it’s not guaranteed) is if the sponsoring hosts or the adopting parents begin to absorb the trauma, carry the hurt and actually start hurting.

When the Paradise team call me sometime after the big arrival, they are more likely to say, �We’re in pain� than �We’re pumped.�

And that’s when I will be convinced that we are indeed on to a God thing and that there’s hope.

Ephesians 1 goes on to say that in Christ we have redemption. Redemption has two parts: release – we are set free from bondage and given a new life – and ransom – someone has to pay a very high price for that new life. How high a price did God pay for us? �In him we have redemption by his blood.� And this was no reluctant afterthought or hidden fee. For when we were chosen, Jesus became the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world (Rev 13:8).

There are more of the 100 families to sponsor and this must be our motivation – thankfulness. We were refugees and orphans, harassed and homeless, and God, at great cost, committed himself to us and brought us into his family forever. With grateful, worry-free obedience we can get in on this God-thing and confidently wait to hear him say, Welcome to Paradise!


HOW YOUR CHURCH CAN SPONSOR A REFUGEE:

If your church feels led to sponsor a refugee,the Canadian Baptist regional denominational offices are all government-authorized Sponsorship Agreement Holders. Any member church wishingto sponsor a refugee family can do so throughthem. These are the two most likely wayschurches can sponsor refugees.

1. Private Refugee Sponsorship (PRS)· to sponsor relatives of people already

in Canada· can take 2-6 years before refugees arrive

in Canada· sponsor is responsible for one year of

financial support· sponsor is responsible to find sponsored

refugees a place to live, provide clothingand other essentials, provide emotionalsupport, etc. for one year

2. Blended Visa Office-Referred (BVOR)· to sponsor pre-selected refugees who are

travel-ready, matching a profile that fits a sponsor’s interests

· can take 1-4 months to bring refugees to Canada

· sponsor shares costs 50-50 with federal government for one year of financial support

· sponsor is responsible to find sponsoredrefugees a place to live, provide clothingand other essentials, provide emotionalsupport, etc. for one year

We invite and encourage churches to respondto this opportunity. If you sense the Lordprompting you or your congregation in thismatter or if you have further questions, please contact:

Rod Olson ([email protected]) in Western Canada (CBWC)Carol Gouveia ([email protected]) in Ontario and Quebec (CBOQ)Paul Carline ([email protected]) in Atlantic Canada (CABC)

Source:www.cbwc.ca/ministries/refugees-uprooted-peoplesMore information:www.cic.gc.ca/english/refugees/sponsor/index.asp

Paul and members of Paradise Baptist Church share their excitement at the 2015 Oasis Assembly.

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120 Canadian Baptist churches across the country have joined CBM’s She Matterscampaign to address the social injustice of gender bias in education where at least two-thirds of uneducated children in the world today are girls. A similar percentage of illiterate adults are women.

The campaign has raised over $180,000 to improve access to education for girls, exceeding our goal of $100,000 for the first year. Advocacy has also been an important part of She Matters. Your letters to Prime Minister Harper encouraging the Government of Canada to strengthen its support for the education of girls in the global community has made a difference! This past spring Canada announced a $120-million commitment to the Global Partnership for Education. Thank you on behalf of all the girls who will benefit because you raised your voice.

One of the projects She Matters supported is the building of a hostel for young girls from remote villages in Odisha State, India. The hostel allows them to safely attend the nearest school,

which is located in a town far from home. This past July, the new hostel officially opened and 60 girls, ages 6-13 are now in school.

Parents are very proud to see their daughters get an education. �Because we have never been to school, we are illiterate so we want to give a good education to our children,� says Israel. He agreed to send his daughter, seven-year-old Romita, to live at the hostel so that she can go to school. It is her first time away from the family, but she says that she is not scared. �I have friends here�girls from other villages.�

Fathers play a vital role in ensuring their daughters receive an education (see page 21). Men are also key in the empowerment of their wives. She Matters Too will focus on improving women’s lives, which is essential to breaking the cycle of poverty in families and communities.

Participate in She Matters Too, coming to your church this fall. Help support access to microcredit loans, business training, literacy skills and health and nutrition training for women. Visitwww.cbmin.org/shematterstoo

She Matters Update

This past April, the Collision youth group at Timberlea Baptist Church threw an incredible fundraiser in support of She Matters.


mosaic—fall 2015

She Mat ters because she’s my daughter

Share why she mattersto you at...shematters.cbmin.org

ARATI and her dad Prashanta

I like to draw. When I grow up I want to be a teacher.

ROMITA and her dad Israel

When I grow up I want to be a nun and serve others.

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JHUNU and her dad David

I like to study and play Kabaddi. When I grow up I want to be a nurse and help people.

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CanadaRod Olsen serves with the Canadian Baptists of Western Canada (CBWC) in Calgary, where he oversees a diverse set of ministries, including refugee sponsorships and camps. When he is not at the CBWC, he is active in the community as an urban farmer, spiritual director and professional singer. He is passionate about cultivating life and is an advocate for simplicity and sustainability.

THE VIEW

You are a farmer and a theologian – a fascinating combination! What do you see as the linkage between faith and farming?

I think the primary one is the connection to Creation, to the way things were intended to be. When I farm, I am connected to the miracle that God saw in a lump of clay. I am beginning to recognize this miracle as well at many levels, not least of which is in the microbial life that is so abundant beneath our feet. Another connection came to me by surprise one day, after running into an Eritrean person who, when finding out I was a farmer, replied "Oh, you are close to God". In Canada, where farming is not always given a high profile, I chuckled at his words, yet find a lot of truth in them too.

Part of your job is to promote community gardening through local churches. What has the response been?

I have had the opportunity to work with A Rocha Canada to put on a gardening workshop in Calgary. I find when churches come together to share extra land,

the greater community responds. There is nothing like gardening to engage the neighborhood around your church. I can confidently say now that if you want to engage your community, build a garden and they will come.

You also operate a Leaf & Lyre Urban Farms, which seeks to create beauty and bring life to our city spaces through the cultivation of backyard gardens. This seems particularly important in our increasingly urbanized world. What do you see as the value of cultivating green spaces?

This is a difficult question to answer. If I was to boil it down, it would be that we are the soil. When Jesus says, "What you did for the least of these...you did for me..." it reminds me of the work I do with the soil. There is nothing smaller than the microbiology that we cannot see. We are merely dust that has the breath, the Ruah of God. We need to see a bit of the wild in our urban environment because it reminds us of who we really are.

For me, growing food is part of a beauty which is part of the redemption of all things. It connects all of us; we all need to eat. When we produce and grow food in the city, people are able to see the process from beginning to end, which creates a stronger connection to the food they eat. People realize how food is part of a living system as opposed to simply a commodity.

Having grown up on a farm and now being an urban dweller, what lessons can we learn from one another?

Down on the farm there is an instinctive understanding of place, of seasons, the life and death of things, the long obedience in one direction, consistency and dependability, of silence and solitude. These qualities are desperately needed in our cities but in some rural areas these are no longer seen as gifts. In the city we have the exchange of ideas, the need to open ourselves constantly in order to welcome the stranger. There is a quickness and responsiveness required in the city and there are people, lots of people, which results in the ability to create more space for difference and diversity – one of the greatest marks of creation. But my warnings to the city are to be wary of arrogance, of forgetting that we are dust, of hype and novelty for the sake of novelty, and to truly embrace the diversity of the city as opposed to sectioning off difference into quadrants of the city.


See your gifts in action, just like Taylor!

Through her involvement with the Convention of Atlantic Baptists’ youth event called Springforth, Taylor fi nancially supported and then participated in a food security short-term mission trip with CBM. This past summer she returned to Kenya to volunteer alongside Kenyan youth leaders at Kamp Tumaini, a camp for kids impacted by HIV and AIDS.

Support the ongoing work of CBM through this year’s Hopeful Gifts for Change Catalogue and make your giving a gift to a broken world.

HOPEFUL GIFTSFOR CHANGE

CBM Gi� Catalogue 2015

THIS CHRISTMAS...

You can participate in the renewal of life.In a world broken by extreme poverty, health pandemics

such as HIV and AIDS, civil conflict and other global issues, you are there to respond with God’s love and compassion.

Together with church partners around the world,CBM has the community presence, commitment

and local expertise to transform the lives of people most impacted by the pressing issues of our time.

Your purchase of gi� s from the Hopeful Gi� s for ChangeGi� Catalogue will give marginalized children and families what they need for fuller and healthier lives. The best way to honour your loved ones this Christmas is to give someone in our world

the gift of life. Order your free copy today by emailing [email protected] or give online at cbmin.org

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grassroots heroes

KIDS CARE:

CHRISTMAS DREAM

Just in time for Christmas!It’s fun and free! A new resource to help children share in the joy of giving. Includes a real story from India that connects with meaningful gi� s that can be given through CBM’s Hopeful Gi� s for Change Catalogue.

Download your free copy today at cbmin.org or email [email protected]

DEAR CBM,

Our mosaic magazine on “She Matters” was filled with wonderful inspirational

messages and the children took to heart the stories and excerpts they heard…and

then their young minds began to roll. They wanted to make a difference as well.

The children decided they wanted to raise money for Hopeful Gifts for Change

[CBM’s Christmas gift catalogue]. They called themselves Children in Action.

They planned a luncheon for their church family; made the announcement

themselves; arranged the auditorium, set the tables, served the food and

did the clean up.

We feel it was a wonderful success. The children eagerly and enthusiastically

worked and in doing so they understood what discipleship and serving

others is all about. They had fun giving. They also raised $518 along with

their weekly offering so their total is $538. Please accept our cheque to go

towards Hopeful Gifts for Change so it can be used to help other children

where the need is most great.

Listening to Jesus,

First Baptist Sunday School

Brantford, Ontario

Canadian Baptist Ministries

7185 Millcreek Drive

Mississauga, Ontario L5N 5R4

magazine on “She Matters” was filled with wonderful inspirational

FSC LOGO HERE

touch

2015 fall mosaic cover final

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